


The Greatest of These is Love

by emeraldsage85



Category: Latter Days (2003)
Genre: Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-21 20:32:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7402852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldsage85/pseuds/emeraldsage85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a very harsh confrontation with his mother, Aaron realizes that he can never go back to the life he misses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Greatest of These is Love

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanted to explain the title - 1 Corinthians 13:13 says "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." In some versions (including the Book of Mormon) it says "the greatest of these is charity", which you'll remember was on the back of Aaron's watch.

Aaron’s standing at the sink, elbow deep in soap suds, when the doorbell rings. For a brief second he wonders if Christian’s back but then he realizes it would be stupid for his boyfriend to ring the bell. The door’s unlocked and Chris always takes his keys. Aaron hastily dries his hands on a nearby dish towel and hurries to answer the door. When he opens it he feels a cold rush of dread throughout his entire body as he takes in the person standing there.

“Mom,” he says with extreme difficulty. “What are you doing here?”

For a moment she eyes him with a look that waivers between sadness and hope before saying, “I’ve been looking for you. Can I come in?”

Aaron ushers her into the living room and deposits her into the nearest armchair.

“Can I get you anything?” he asks politely, more out of habitual good manners than any real desire to be a good host.

“No thank-you,” she says primly as she settles into the chair and arranges her skirt neatly around her.

Aaron takes a seat across from her on the couch and stares at her in complete bewilderment.

“Why are you here?” he asks.

“I’ve been wondering what happened to you for nearly a year because you left the treatment centre without telling anyone. I thought maybe you were dead somewhere,” his mother says in a shaking voice.

She swipes at her eye with a neatly manicured finger but Aaron feels no sympathy for her. All he can feel is dread in the pit of his stomach, weighing him down like lead.

He fixes her with a cold look and asks, “How did you find me?”

“I hired a private investigation firm. It took me months to save up the money because I didn’t want your father to know what I was doing but they helped me get your address,” she explains.

White hot fury explodes in Aaron’s chest and for the first time since this whole ordeal began he feels properly angry at his parents.

“You couldn’t just let me be? After everything you’ve done to me you couldn’t just let me move on and try to live a normal life? You had to come here and – and rub it in one more time?” he snaps.

“No, I came here to make sure that you were all right. I needed to know that you were alive and safe and… I wanted to know if you’d come back to Idaho,” his mother says hastily.

“I’m happy here,” Aaron says firmly.

“Are you? Do you think living a life of sin is more important than God? Do you have any idea what you’re doing to yourself and your soul? Aaron, the highest level of heaven is now barred for you because you walked away from God! Doesn’t that bother you?” his mother says.

“I didn’t walk away from God,” Aaron says through gritted teeth. “I walked away from a church that treats people like lepers for something they can’t control. Do you think I would have chosen to be gay? Do you think I wanted to be excommunicated? Do you think I wanted to be forced to leave my family?”

He’s close to tears now but he blinks rapidly to keep them back because he doesn’t want her to see that she’s gotten to him.

“Oh Aaron, there’s a way out of this, you know there is. I talked to the treatment centre and they said they’ll take you back but you’ll have to be on permanent restriction until they know they can trust you and –“

“No!” Aarons bursts out.

“Please be reasonable about this. You can’t seriously think –“

But whatever his mother was going to say is interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.

“Aaron where are you? I’ve got a surprise for you!” Christian calls cheerfully from the hall.

Aaron can’t swallow past the lump that’s risen in his throat so he doesn’t answer, waiting for Christian to make an appearance in the living room instead. When he does he’s carrying the mail and a large bouquet of colourful flowers, grinning happily. Then he takes in the scene before him of Aaron’s tear-filled eyes and Gladys’ angry expression and the smile on his face vanishes.

“Is everything all right?” he asks.

When Aaron shakes his head, Christian deposits both the mail and flowers on a nearby table, sits down on the couch beside him, and takes his hand.

“You!” Aaron’s mother says in a tone that’s almost accusatory 

“Yeah, me. You have five seconds to tell me why you’re in our apartment upsetting my boyfriend before I toss you out,” Christian says coldly.

“How dare you speak to me like that? I’m his mother!” Gladys snaps.

Aaron is crying quietly now. He can’t hold back his tears and he’s so ashamed that he wants to melt into the floor and never be seen again.

“Aaron, please don’t cry. I’m just trying to get you to accept some help. You know I only want the best for you,” his mother croons.

“You think sending him to that treatment centre was the best? You have no idea what they did to him there!” Christian says hotly.

“You don’t have a clue, do you? You don’t know what it’s like to raise a child, to do everything for them, to build your entire life around them succeeding and then find out that you won’t see them in heaven! I don’t know what you did to my son but he’s not the same! He’s not the boy I raised!” Gladys shrieks.

“You mean you didn’t raise someone who’s gay? Because from where I’m standing you raised somebody who’s kind and smart and funny, someone I’m very lucky to have the privilege of knowing and loving,” Christian says.

He feels Aaron squeeze his hand and decides to continue.

“You people are always preaching love and forgiveness but you couldn’t find it in your hearts to give Aaron the home and family he misses. If you’re going to sit here and tell him your love comes with conditions then you can leave.”

“I do love him; he’s my son! But the bible says a man shouldn’t lie with another man because it’s immoral!” Gladys cries.

“Maybe you should read your bible a little closer then. Aaron’s taught me that there are plenty of passages about love in there and some of them have some pretty good messages about not hating people!” Christian says.

Gladys leaps from her chair and draws herself up to her full height of 5’4” with a look of pure rage. She’s about to say something when Aaron finally speaks again.

“Mom, j-just g-go…please,” he says in a defeated voice through his tears.

 She abandons her anger at Christian for the moment to turn to him. 

“Aaron, please.”

“Leave!” Aaron begs. “Just leave!”

“I think you’ve overstayed your welcome,” Christian snarls, standing up to face Gladys.

“All right, I’ll go. But don’t think this is the end of it!” she says angrily.

She pivots on her heel sharply and marches down the hall. A moment later the sound of the door slamming reaches the living room, leaving silence but for the sound of Aaron weeping.

“Come here,” Christian says as he drops back onto the sofa.

He wraps his arms around Aaron, pulling him as close as they can physically get. Aaron rests his head on Christian’s shoulder as sobs rack his body, wetting his boyfriend’s shirt collar with tears that he can’t seem to stop crying. He feels his face scrunch up and his throat tightens to the point where he can barely breathe but he doesn’t move. Distantly he hears Christian murmuring to him, feels gentle hands stroking his head, but he can’t seem to allow himself to be comforted into calmness.

Neither of them have any idea of how long they sit there with only the sunlight streaming in from the window to show the passing of time. Finally, when he can breathe again without the painful hitching sobs, Aaron pulls away and sits up.

Christian says, “I’ll be right back,” before disappearing into the kitchen for a moment.

When he returns he’s holding a damp cloth and a glass of water. He wraps one of Aaron’s boneless hands around the glass and orders him to drink it. Aaron complies and then sits there numbly, unable to find any words while Christian wipes the tear stains from his face.

“You should lie down for a bit and rest,” Christian says.

Aaron swings his legs up onto the sofa and then tucks one of their throw pillows behind his head in an attempt to get comfortable. Christian takes a seat on the floor by his head and reaches up to grab one of his hands. 

After a long, tense moment Aaron croaks, “I don’t want to go back to the treatment center.”

“You don’t have to. She can’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do,” Christian says.

Aaron takes in a shuddering breath and blows it out slowly. It’s something he did as a child when trying to hide how upset he was from his father, who’s never been a fan of public displays of emotion.

“For a second I thought she’d come to forgive me but then she started talking about that place and I realized that she’ll never accept me. My own parents will never love me again,” he says in a voice barely louder than a whisper 

“You haven’t done anything wrong. They’re the ones at fault here,” Christian says.

“I don’t want to go back to being in the closet but at the same time I miss my home. I miss my family and the friends I grew up with. I’d give anything to have all of that back but still have you,” Aaron hiccups.

“I would too. I’m sorry you have to live like this and I wish there was something I could do,” Christian says.

“Well you could try to cheer me up. That would help a bit,” Aaron suggests.

“How?” Christians asks.

“Well, if I’m not mistaken, you said you had a surprise for me,” Aaron reminds him.

“Oh yeah, I bought these for you. I was walking home and there was this truck selling flowers so I thought I’d get you some,” Christian says, pulling the bouquet from the table and handing it to Aaron. 

Aaron sits up so he can get a proper look at the flowers and, finally, for the first time in hours, a smile crosses his face.

“Thank-you, they’re beautiful,” he says.

“Just like you,” Christian tells him.

Aaron feels himself go scarlet and sees his boyfriend start laughing. Making him blush seems to be a favourite pastime of Christian’s. Still, he feels himself grinning and he thinks that sometimes, even after everything he’s been through, maybe giving up everything for love wasn’t so bad after all.

 


End file.
